Showdown on the Killing Grounds

A cameraman from the Sea Shepherd helicopter Kookaburra videotaped the harpooning and shooting of a Minke whale at 1045 Hours.

The whale took 25 minutes to die after being struck with a harpoon and receiving 7 shots from a high powered rifle. The sea was full of blood.

The killing took place 10 miles away from the Steve Irwin.

"We can't cover all the harpoon vessels with the resources we have," said Sea Shepherd U.K. director Steve Roest who was injured as a result of a sonic blast from a Long Range Acoustical Device (LRAD). "These hunter killer ships are out for blood, our blood and the blood of the whales."

The crew of the Steve Irwin are now directly behind the slipway of the Nisshin Maru attempting to block the transfer of the whale's body to the factory ship.

"Seeing the long prolonged agonizing murder of that defenceless whale has made me angry," said Captain Paul Watson. "Very angry. We are going to make a stand here today to shut this obscenity down. It will be dangerous but we did not come down here to witness the slaughter of whales, we came down to stop the killing. We have a very big disadvantage," continued Watson. "Japan will defend the violence of their mad dog killers. Our governments don't have the guts and will condemn us for defending ourselves and the whales. Sometimes you just have to say, what the hell and make a stand and that is what we intend to do here today. We intend to make a stand."